The most notable aspect of this ad series was a simple message: the value of advertising in the paper to attract the local market was unbeatable, based on rates and reach.
These ads were placed on the outside edge of pages and stood out with a clean style. Goodlettsville -- a neighbor to Nashville -- held in its city limits a large portion of the strongest retail sales region in the entire state of Tennessee, the Rivergate corridor, including a regional mall.
We managed to tap into that, despite vigorous competition from Gannett, which owned or supported all the other newsprint media in the area.
Results:
The tagline, "We'll tell the neighbors you're here!" resonated with small businesses and business leaders in this fairly close-knit (and growing) area, where the common gripes for advertisers were:1) the regional daily was wasteful for targeting local consumers;
2) there was no other affordable local outlet for media advertising (other than target-area broadcast ads on cable TV, potentially a costly production and overlooking non-cable viewers).
3) other small papers based in other cities were not an appealing alternative for locals to drive local consumers.
The Gazette was the outlet that worked for many local companies, and national or regional advertisers seeking the local audience.
Sales increased roughly 25% in the second year of the Gazette, a success in anyone's estimation.
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